A New Man Slayer, Sarkia
by The Crimson Blood Team
Summary: A Woman Kenshin and Sanosuke once met shows up in town. With the woman dieing off, the Battousai doesn`t know what to do. And worse, the woman`s name is Starlight, and she`s in love with Sanosuke. Sano`s hurt, and not sure about how he feels about the wom
1. Samurai

The woman sheathed her blade, which had changed back into a sakabatou. With its sharp and blunt edges reversed, a sakabatou sword was unsuitable for killing so it was a wonderful way to keep people from thinking she was anything then what she said she was. But the sword was also a sword stained with blood from many years, though the blood would never show. She smirked, one bloody fang showed slightly in the pale moonlight. The woman started to walk away, her mouth falling into a strait line. Behind her lay the battlefield, many armored samurai lie there, all dead, most with their heads laying at their feet, others had blood poring out of holes where their hearts should had been, even though their armor hid it. In the eyes of one of the armored samurai, you could see the fear in his eyes, and guess what he had seen just before he died; the cold golden eyes of his killer and her quick-as-lightning silver sword. Even the samurai`s last words still floated in the air with his scream of death. "The Man Hunter no long hunts, now she slays with the Man Slayers." He had been the last to die, that's why it still rested in the air.  
------------------------------------------ 


	2. Hello

"Ugly!"  
  
"Yahiko!" Kaoru screamed and began to chase her student around the dojo. She yelled again, "I mean Yahiko-CHAN!!!"  
  
"Don't call my CHAN!" Yahiko called back.  
  
At his place beside the washing tub, Kenshin laughed at the scene, which has almost, no it has, become a ritual on a daily basis. Kenshin welcomed the sounds of their bickering. Of Yahiko, the son he never had and the generation he had fought for, and Kaoru. He was so happy living with her and Yahiko. His little family along with Sanosuke, Megumi, Dr. Genazi and his two granddaughters. Most of them were orphans, just like him, all of them were alone but now everyone is happy. *Nice little family we have, Kenshin.* The Battousai half of Kenshin spoke in his mind. Kenshin cringed at the sound of his darker half, but sighed and Kenshin agreed with the Battousai and returned to the laundry, with the sounds of Kaoru and Yahiko in the distance and the sound Megumi walking up to the dojo.  
  
"Ken-san, have you heard?" Megumi asked him, sitting down on the porch to the dojo next to Sanosuke.  
  
"Heard what, Megumi?" Sanosuke asked.  
  
"Something killed over fifty samurai last night. A woman who clams to have seen the fight said it was a black haired woman with golden eyes." Megumi explained what she had heard. "The killings were just outside Tokyo." But Kenshin hadn`t heard were they were taken place, busy talking to the Battousai to see if he knew anything about this 'golden eyed woman' Megumi spoke of.  
  
"A woman kill over fifty samurai? You`ve got to be kidding!"  
  
Megumi shook her head. "They say the woman who killed them was Sarkia."  
  
"Sarkia the Man Hunter?" Sanosuke asked.  
  
"No, the Man Hunter never killed. The witness says that the last man to die said the words 'the hunter hunts no long, but slays her prey' or something to that affect. The poor woman was traumatized, she was twitching like crazy and begged to be helped. She fears Sarkia will come after her next, because she seen and lived to tell. The stories coming from the west say that Sarkia may have killed a thousand men, but only one of the men could tell it was her, the others he had only told about her. But, she didn`t because the one person she cared about stepped in her way."  
  
****Lunch time at the Akabeko****  
  
Kenshin and his family sat in their normal spots, behind Kenshin though, were the spot was normally empty, a black haired woman sat eating everything she could get her hands on. It was like she hadn`t eaten in days, and she must of been from out of town, no one ever sat behind Kenshin anymore, not with his protective instincts screaming a warning at even the slightest threat. Right now though, Kenshin was asleep. He was still sitting straight up, his head bowed and his hands still curled around his cup of tea. His hair hid most of his face but one might could tell he had nodded off by the way he breathed. It was a miracle he didn't fall over. The black haired woman absentmindedly tossed a empty boll over her back, which hit Kenshin in the back of his head. Kenshin woke up, and Yahiko started to yell at the woman about hitting Kenshin, but the woman just looked up at Yahiko, chop sticks halfway to her mouth. "Ara?" It was evident the woman`s Japanese was poor, because she didn`t seem to understand everything Yahiko was yelling at her, since he was yelling in Japanese. She notice the bump on Kenshin`s head and looked very guilty when she realised she`d done it. "O genki desu ka, Senshi-san?" She asked, noticing the sword at Kenshin`s side.  
  
"Watashi desu, doomo arigatoo." Kenshin replied, rubbing his head where her boll had hit.  
  
"Watashi desu gomen nasei." She spoke quietly, her dark green eyes clearly showing her slight confusion with Kenshin`s Japanese words.  
  
"We speak English." Sanosuke said bluntly, the woman smiled.  
  
"I thought you only spoke Japanese, that I did." She said with a nod. She then turned to Kenshin again, speaking in Japanese once more. "Watashi desu Gozaimasu Kallan- Kaya Starlight. Anata desu?"  
  
Kenshin smiled at her, her English tongue favored to the Japanese she spoke. "Watashi desu Himura Kenshin." He replied, her name striking up old memories of his days as the Battousai. Wait, she looks like that Sarkia woman who`s storys are spreading like wild fire. What is the meaning of this? He asked his darker half, who in the back of his mind was smiling at the name and the confusion it brought Kenshin.  
  
*You used to train with her, before I came along, you thought of the name only little, though. Its been twelve long years since you`ve seen her. I`ve always wondered why you keep that door locked.* The Battousai spoke, pretending not to hear Kenshin asking about Sarkia.  
  
"Watashi desu Kamiya Kaoru." Kaoru told her next, followed by the others.  
  
"Watashi desu Myojin Yahiko." Yahiko beamed happily.  
  
"Watashi desu Sagara Sanosuke." The man spoke flatly, not even looking at her.  
  
"Watashi desu Takani Megumi." The blue haired woman smiled at the black haired woman at the other table.  
  
"Why do you have two names?" Yahiko asked the other woman suddenly.  
  
"One, child, is my real name, the other is the one I go by." The woman told him softly.  
  
"Which is which?" Yahiko prodded, he wanted to find out more about her, she seemed nice, but then again, Kenshin was nice and he had a darker half. He wanted to make sure she didn`t have one, since she was acting like Kenshin.  
  
"I go by Gozaimasu Kallan, though as you can tell, half of its Japanese."  
  
"What does Gozaimasu Kallan mean?"  
  
"Gozaimasu is actually the last part of the name, and I`m sure you already know it means Morning. Kal is short for Kaljustis, a art of sword fighting my clan created. Lan is short for my rank in the clan, Lansorito. (AN: Kaljustis and Lansorito are not really words to you guys, but they are real things in my clan, the sword style and the title do not belong to be, they belong to the Elders of my clan. I do, however, own Starlight and the name of Kallan, I also carry my Kaljustis sword and my title with pride, though I stink when it comes to saying what little Japanese I know. Anyone got a Japanese word charts they can send me to use in the story later on?) I was the first to master the art of Kaljustis so they called me Kal, I was also the first to move into the rank of Lansorito where they taught me Kaljustis."  
  
"You think you could teach me Kaljustis?" Yahiko asked, this time not because he wanted to know about her or if she had a darker half, but because it was a art of sword fighting.  
  
Kaoru saw the woman cringe when Yahiko had asked, everyone but Yahiko had noticed it. "Is something the matter, miss?" Kenshin asked, she was seemed to be upset, he could see it in her eyes.  
  
"Watashi desu kowai watashi-"  
  
"Cannot do that?" Sanosuke asked, cutting her off.  
  
"Hai, I cannot." She licked her lower lip, licking the small amount of blood away from a small hole that had been made sometime last night, before she woke up in the tree she called bed while she rested.  
  
"Why?" Kaoru asked.  
  
"The Kaljustis style is a style of death." The woman whispered, standing up and placing a thousand yen on her table. She started to walk, but stopped for just a moment when she was just behind Kaoru. "All who have mastered it, have become Man Hunters, and will become Man Slayers as well." The words were murmured to Kaoru just before the other woman walked out of the Akabeko.  
  
One thought lay on Kaoru`s mind. "How can Man Hunters turn into Man Slayers just by learning a style of death?" She spoke her thought.  
------------------------------------------------------------------ 


	3. A Vampric Slayer?

*Sarkia`s POV*  
  
As I sat waiting for Starlight to walk down the long twisted halls of her mind back to our meeting room, I wondered why she had not followed my warrnings not to talk to the group. I pulled myself from my thoughts as Starlight slid the door open. The room was pitch dark, and it wouldn`t get any lighter till she sat down. The rurouni came inside, unerringly finding her way to the middle of the room. She sat down on the floor, placing her sword in front of her and waiting. I struck a light, slowly brightening up the room. The rurouni was sitting on the other side of a small table. A pot of tea and a small bottle of sake sat there, along with our two cups. I calmly sat on the other side of the table.  
  
We were a study in contrasts, if anyone lived so long as to study us. I wore a simple, yet well-made uniform in shades of purple and blue, like I always did. My long black hair was pulled up in a high ponytail and I was sure my eyes seemed to flicker from a light green to a deep gold. Two swords- my katana and my wakizashi- lay in front of me. Though I was small and seemingly slight of form, a palpable aura of danger surrounded me, leaving no room for doubt that I was a deadly and formidable swordsman.   
  
On the other hand, the rurouni looked as if she'd seen better days. Her gi and hakama were patched and worn. Her pure black hair was caught by a strip of cloth at her nape of her neck and her eyes were an unusualy dark shade of green. The sword that lay in front of her was her own sakabatou- its sharp and blunt edges reversed, a sword unsuitable for killing. She looked very young, her delicate little face always wearing a sweet, gentle expression, giving her an innocent and harmless air, except for the shadows in her eyes and the long scar on her cheek.   
  
As different as we seemed at first glance, the rurouni and I shared one thing in common- our faces were exactly the same. But then, that wasn't surprising, since the rurouni and I were essentially the same person. Only, we were just different sides of the same coin. The rurouni spoke first. "Sarkia, why have you called me?"  
  
"We need to talk."   
  
"I thought we had more or less settled things already." The rurouni bent over a little to pour herself some tea.  
  
I laughed softly. "It's not that. Though I did have a heck of a time getting you to accept me." I was a curser, though I never cursed when around her. I`d hardly ever cursed since she`d accepted me, cursing was my way of letting off steam, though since Starlight`d had eccepted me, I`d been blowing steam off with the training gear she`d gotten me.  
  
I watched as the rurouni flushed slightly. "It's not easy for anyone to come to terms with their dark side."  
  
I shook my head, leaning over to brush her bangs back behind a ear as I did. "I'm not really your 'evil twin', Kallan." I paused, leaning back to where I had been before, and poured myself some sake. Sometimes I wished we`d never come to terms, it didn`t seem right for her to not know everything about me. "I am the part of you that is capable of cold, ruthless action. I hold all your shadows, all your dark emotions. And I am also the one who ensures we survive. You- and all those that we love."  
  
"Sanosuke."  
  
I smiled faintly. "He's wonderful." To bad he has yet to remember us.  
  
The rurouni's smile was an echo of the my own, I hated to put her though these kind of things. "We don't deserve him."  
  
"True. And then, there's the rest of our little family too. I will not let anything happen to them. Especially now." I told her, remembering about our clan and the orphans who`d became our family, and even the Battousai, who didn`t know I was here yet. I sipped my sake and made that face again, telling Starlight I didn`t like the taste. "Feh. It still tastes like blood."  
  
Starlight shook her head this time. "It's the guilt, Sarkia. That's why we stay away from sake, remember?"  
  
Ya, I remembered, I still wanted the sake though. "Hn. Guilt's a poisonous emotion, Kallan. We'd better work this out sooner or later, if only for the sake of our sanity."  
  
"Careful," said Starlight, a mischievous glint lighting up her eyes. "Do you want to start sounding like Kinfo?"  
  
"Che! Kallan-" I choked for a moment, then, I struck back, knowing that devilment was shining clear in my eyes as well. "Well, we share more in common with her than you think."  
  
Starlight shuddered. "No thanks! Let's not even go there." Kinfo was one who always had her eyes on Sanosuke, even though I`m sure he`s forgotten of the time he met Starlight and Kinfo by now. After all, he didn`t seem to reconize Starlight at that lunch place of his. (AN: Kinfo is actuly after the guy I like and I hate her for it, so I`ve put her in here as a bad guy and Starlight`s rivel. She also mastered the Kaljustis stile not a week later then I, and she moved up in rank when she started her magic training so she now goes by Kalimo. Imo is short for Imotikoins, which is her rank. When she masters all her magics, she`ll be called Kalikonivon, with her rank being Nivonesti. You get Iko added after the Kal once you finish the thirty magic classes. I`m staying as a warrior, though sooner or later, I`ll become a Emotional Warrior, which is a Warrior who`ll even kill someone they care about if they are a threat to the life of the warrior. In which, I`ll go by Kalsalan)  
  
I sipped again at my sake. "Blood or not, I still need a drink. All Cally's fault- of course, the one thing we must've picked up from her. You'll be wanting one too, after I tell you what's going on." I set my black cup down, careful not to make it shatter, something I would have done if I`d of sat it down like I normaly do. "Something is wrong, Kallan. I don't know what it is and I don't like that. But it bodes danger for us and for our family." (AN: Cally is the leader of a clan called Sanlai, she`s also a major prep. So, in this story, she`s one of Starlight`s old, yet dead, enemys; got killed when a bliding crumbled ^.^ and no, in reality, she`s not dead)  
  
In the waking world, the rurouni would not consciously remember all her dreams. But now, here in this place, she did. "The blood dreams..."  
  
"Hai." I poured myself another cup of sake. "The dreams where we stalked the English settlements as the Hunter, when we killed all those people..."  
  
"...and enjoyed it," concluded Starlight sickly. "Delighting in it, especially when the blood ran on the ground. But we never-"  
  
"No," I told her harshly. "I enjoy the battle, and the blood, but only at times, thats why I`m the Man Hunter, Starlight, you know this. As I've said, I hold all the dark emotions you feel, and the taste for fresh blood on the full moons; dark or light. Its a habbit I gained when I was yet a young child. But the bloodlust in the dreams- berserker furies, this is not me. Not us. Never us. You don't remember the dreams when you wake- I've tried to protect you from them. But now, you must remember."  
  
"But why are we having these dreams? If it's from guilt, I can understand. But this?" Starlight was baffled, I couldn`t tell if it was from her knowing I ran about as a blood raving killer on the full moons, or if it was from the dreams we`ve been having about us having a taste for blood every night.   
  
"The last time we were haunted by dreams of the past, Kinfo came to challenge us. Then, we had to leave for Sanlai to battle Cally."  
  
"These dreams are a warning then."   
  
"Not quite." I paused, I knew Starlight would think I was trying to grope words, and I hated how obviously it was every time we meet. "The dreams aren't just warnings. They're something else." I knew my golden eyes looked troubled, and I was troubled. I hated that too. "Something is making us dream these dreams, Kallan. I can sense it. You know we have certain talents- our warrior's sixth sense is one of them. It warns us when danger is coming. And it IS coming. Watch out for it, Kallan. I am afraid it will bring harm to the ones we care about."  
  
"I will, Sarkia, trust me, I`ll be on guard." She sat her white cup down and used her sword to stand. She then turned and started walking to the door.  
  
"Kallan, why did you talk to that group even when I told you not to?" I asked her when she was nearly to the door.  
  
She stoped only after she`d opened the door. "I was talking to the Hitokiri Battousai and his family." After speaking over her shoulder at me, she left me to my thoughts, sliding the door closed.  
  
So the Battousai had a family now, I was glad. He and his own rurouni had always wanted one. And Starlight had talked to his family as well, that means the rurouni known as Kenshin had found a place to call home. I wished Starlight and I had a place to do such, but when our clan was destroyed, I was given a job to do, become the Man Hunter in Starlight`s place, and yet, last night, I was there. I knew that last night wasn`t a full moon, but I had drawn my blade and killed a whole hord of samurai. Sometime in the night, I must of bit my lower lip, because me and Starlight were bleading from a small hole this morning. As I reached for my blades, I reached for my wakizashi first. Touching the blade, last night`s memorys came flooding back into my mind. My wakizashi slicing the samurai, my warnings for them to stay away, the screams as my blade flashed in the moonlight, the blood on my blade, the bloody fangs I`d seen in the reflection of the blade itself, myself licking the blood off the blade and grining in reaction to its taste... I suddenly took over Starlight`s body, she wouldn`t need it while she was wandering her mind. I had expected to be on the tree branch she`d nodded off in, but when I opened her- no- my eyes, I found I was in the Kamiya Dojo. I pailed, noticing all of the people Starlight had talked to sitting around me. "She has golden eyes!" One of the people gasped.  
  
"Megumi, calm down."  
  
I gasped at the voice. It was the deep voice of the Battousai. I looked up to his golden eyes, reaching my hand up to trace his cross-shaped scar, recoling my hand when I felt it burn. Right, it was a cross, and the Man Slayer I was becoming was a Vampire. A cross` magic keeps Vampires in line, I remembered Starlight saying. I reached up again, this time keeping my hand half a inch from his scar. I was sure he would have leaned into it, but he just looked at me with cold anger. I shivered at the thought, he was mad at me for killing all those men. I started to move my hand back down to my side, only to have the Battousai grab it angerly. "Watashi desu kowai watashi-"  
  
He cut me off, much like Kenshin`s friend had cut off my rurouni when she went to say she couldn`t teach that young boy Kaljustis. "Let me guess, you couldn`t stop it?" I cringed at both his snear and his grip, looking away, quiet ashamed I couldn`t stop the transformation from starting. His grip lossened and his voice became softer, though still deep, like I had remembered it from so many years ago. "I am quiet awar that you could not sense the change, but you could have fought it. Your new rurouni can`t handle things like this!" He was scolding me, even though when we both had body`s of our own thousand years ago, we had been together ourselves. Though now that we shared body`s with a rurouni, we weren`t alowed to even kiss!  
  
"Gomen." I told him softly, closing my eyes. "I had thought I could come for help, to keep the Man Slayer from coming compleatly into this world." I sat up, pulling my wrist free of his. "Sayonara, Battousai-koi." I whispered softly, standing and walking away from him...and his new family with his rurouni. "May the Fates help you when it comes time for you to battle with the Man Slaying Senshi, both anata and your rurouni." I quickly walked away, my long strides getting me to the door quicker then what Starlight would have done. I felt a hand on my shoulder as I slide the door open, turning around, I found that accursed rooster-haired Fighter for Higher friend of Battousai`s rurouni who went by the name of Sanosuke.  
  
"Why are you leaving?" He asked softly, he spoke like my rurouni and Kenshin, which startled me a bit.  
  
I didn`t speak, the Man Slayer fighting to come out, and me fighting to keep her in. Something snaped, and the Man Slayer came out in the open, pushing me into the back seat, so to speak. I could only watch as the Slayer smiled evily, barring her fangs. Suddenly, I got controle, though only for a moment, just after the Slayer had drew her blade and droped down into the Kaljustis stance. "Run, Sanosuke!" But just as soon as I said the last words, the Slayer got controle of me again and the last thing I heard before I blacked out was Sanosuke yelling for Kenshin and the last thing I saw was Sanosuke jumping back from my wakizashi, the sword I never used. I`d always used my katana when I Hunted, never my wakizashi, though the Slayer had always used my- no- her wakizashi, always.  
  
*Starlight`s POV, a hour later*  
  
My eyes fluttered open and I went to strech, only to find I had been bounded by ropes. Infront of me, I could clearly see Sano, laying in bed, his chest wrapped in bandages as well, as his right arm. "About time you woke up." I heard Sano speak, he didn`t seem angered by what had happened, whatever had happened.  
  
"Why am I tied?" I asked him, trying to remember how he knew english.  
  
He turned his head to look at me, his face held a expression I couldn`t place. "Do you not remember?" I shook my head no, and heard him sigh. I wasn`t sure if the sigh was in anger, pain, or something else. "You attacked me, with that sword of yours." He glanced over to my sword, only it wasn`t my sword. It was Sarkia`s wakizashi, the sword she swore to never use, and it was just out of my reach. Had I not been bound by ropes a inch thick, I could have gotten to it with ease.  
  
"Thats not my sword." I told him truthfully, which only caused him startlement, though he hid it far to well. I could only tell it was there by his eyes.  
  
"How can it not be your sword? You used it!" I remembered that me and Kinfo and taught him a lot of english when we met and during the times we traveled together as children, back when Sanosuke was with that Captain Sagara man.  
  
"Only Sarkia carries a wakizashi. My blade is a sakabatou." I told him what I knew, though I had never seen Sarkia use her wakizashi, I knew it was hers. Leaning back against the wall, I used it as support as I got up and stood, not able to use my arms to do the task at the moment. I took a hesitated step away from the wall and to Sano. His eyes widdened as he realised I was trying to walk over to him and who I was, and in suppise by my actions, he knocked over a small golden bell by his hand.  
  
"What do you nee-" I looked to the woman, who had stoped dead in the middle of a word, staring at me with fear. "KENSHIN!!!!!" I droped to my knees when she yelled the name, wanting badly to cover my ears.  
  
I saw a golden eyed warrior with red hair come running through the door, which was on the other side of Sano. The warrior`s eyes softened slightly when he saw me, though the cold edge never left them. "Whats the matter, Kaoru?" He asked the woman, who was heavy with child, maybe six months along already.  
  
The woman just glared at him, I remembered her name to be Kaoru, Kamiya Kaoru. So they werent married yet? Maybe they just didnt want anyone to know. "She`s awake and was just walking to Sanosuke!" I was suprised by the woman`s hiss at first, then relised that it was just one of them 'Pregnant woman mood swings' that one of my trainers had had when she was going to have a child and someone got her upset or something.  
  
Sano spoke up this time, and I was suprised when I found him defending me. "Its not like she can hurt me, tanuki girl. She just startled me by her movements." This time I fell back, my eyes even wider from startlement. When he had said the words, h-he had smiled at me! It was almost not visable, but I could see it.  
  
"Are you ok, Miss?" I suddenly saw the man at the known as Kenshin looking down at me, his deep vilot eyes full on consern. Why? Just a moment ago, he had been the Battousai.  
  
For a moment, I didn`t reply, my thoughts racing. "Hai. Thank you for caring, you are very kind, that you are." He pulled away from me, wondering why I had spoke in such a way I`m sure. I tried to sit back up, though could do no such thing. I felt his hand go under my back and froze when he tried to help me sit up.  
  
*Leave it to Kenshin to take pitty on the poorer souls.* I growled at Sarkia, though Kenshin had both heard and felt it.  
  
Kenshin leaned down close to me, whispering in my ear. "I know no to whom you growl, that I don`t. But do not anger me any more then you have, it is not wise to do that, it is not." Oh great fighter in heaven and earth, he didn`t have to talk to me like that! I wasn`t a child! Me and Kenshin were the same age, for Goddess Sake! Both of us was 26, though we looked younger then we were. About 12 years younger to be exact.  
  
*He`s just blufing! Let me at him, Starlight! I`ll kill him for the Goddess above!!* There was a odd growl in Sarkia`s voice, and it was deeper then normal.  
  
I growled, and rolled away from Kenshin, fliping up to my feet when I got a good distance. It was a whole lot easier to do when you weren`t close to the wall. I growled again as Kenshin`s mate walked closer to me with that wooden stick she carried like a sword. I nearly missed the sudden flash of gold in Kenshin`s eyes, and the Battousai`s quick flash of anger as he pressed me to the wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sano fighting to stand up. This, I paid no heed to as I fought Sarkia from getting the upper hand and taking over my body. *Kallan....* I could hear her pleading voice, it was back normal and it startled me, causing me to let all my mental defenses down. In the Battousai`s eyes I could see my own flash gold as Sarkia suddenly got controle of my body.  
  
*Normal POV*  
  
Starlight`s eyes flash gold and stayed that way, a sly smile made its way to her face. "Battousai-koi." The golden eyes of the woman were soft, and her voice was both deep and soft.  
  
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!" The red haired man roared, pressing the woman to the wall harder then before. The wall itself was starting to crack under the weight.  
  
The woman sighed softly, as if content with her treatment. She started to sing, though what she was singing was a mistery to all others in the room- exept the Battousai.  
  
"Don't look.  
  
Don't speak.  
  
Draw your sword and slash.   
  
Do not hesitate.  
  
Do not allow them to reach you.  
  
Do not let them touch you else you'll break apart.  
  
Justice is not murder.  
  
You are fighting so others may live.  
  
You are killing to create change."  
  
The Battousai let go of the woman, taking a step back. He reconised the part of the song, it was one he and his mate had made when they had body`s of their own so many years ago. "Sar--kia?" He hesitated slightly when he asked, not wishing to believe it.  
  
Sarkia looked up, her soft golden eyes replaced by hard icy ones. She straned slightly, but broke free of her bindings and dove for her sword. The Battoisai got to it first, kicking it out of her reach and over to Kaoru. Sarkia growled, her eyes flashing dangerous fire as she got up. "Battousai the Man Slayer, I think you`ve met your match." Sarkia sent a punch to the unsuspecting red head, knocking him back into a wall. (AN: I can knock my trainer into a wall if I want to! Yay! Goody for me! Ok, ok, I`ll shut up now) Sarkia ran for her blade, which had just been picked up by Kaoru. Quickly snaching the blade from the woman, Sarkia ran back at the Man Slayer, who was pulling himself out of the wall and back into the room.  
  
Suprised by Sarkia`s actions, Battoisai drew his blade and did the only thing he could; block Sarkia`s attacks. The full moon`s not till tomorrow, so why is she acting like this? It can`t be the Slayer, she was up last night! But, he knew that when he had hesitated, and the Man Hunter started attacking him, she had fully become the Man Slayer even he feared. Kenshin got controle of him, just for a second, just to say the words he thought could help. "I like to practice the sword arts, but I have never enjoyed killing people." Kenshin then left the rest to the Battouisai, hoping that somehow, someway, his words would help Starlight regain controle of her body. But, unknown to Kenshin and the rest of the world around him, Starlight`s soul was slowly dieing off, even though it was fighting to come back into this world. The Battouisai growled, only he knew what was happening to the rurouni inside the woman he was fighting. He had to save her in some way, she still had a family to go back to, a mother and father, and a little sister; even if she wanted to denie it, she couldn`t. She had a place, and the Battouisai would make sure she could go back to them someday. Though the only way to save her was to defeat the Man Slayer, something he feared he couldn`t do, but he had to try.  
  
----------------- 


	4. Unexpected Findings

Disclaimer: I havent done this before, felt no need for it because if someone thought I owned this and would still be writing stories like this and not turning them into eps, they are sadly mistaken. Therefor: I Do Not Own Rurouni Kenshin. Happy now everyone?  
  
Short note: BookDragon, as of yet you are my only supporter as far as reveiws go. I had begun to think that perhaps I should stop this writing, though now I see there is at least one who will read this. Also, my friend, I am not the only writer who uses this account, as you may have guessed, but I shall write in the bio section of the account, the story titles and the writers so no one gets confused any longer. Thank you.   
  
Also, I have no talent in the battle-sceans, so I`ll do something in place of it.  
  
Now, on with the story!   
  
Sorry, had to do that, just for kicks. Alright, Starlight, wheres the ice cream you promised me?  
  
Starlight: You`ll get it as soon as I get mine from Lithina  
  
-----------------------  
  
*Starlight`s POV*  
  
I was in mine and Sarkia`s meeting room, content with practicing in my mind. Its what one could call a dream, though to me it was real. I always had a tendancy to practace moves in my mind, something I had started doing ever since Sakia entered my life.  
  
I kept my eyes closed as I praticed, it was easier to consentrate that way.  
  
I was also acting like my blade was an old english blade, it made me feel more at home. I was fortunant to get such a fine blade to learn with when the Clan burned.  
  
I was a stow-away, you know?  
  
I hid apon a ship bound for Japan, it had went under during a storm, and I was lucky enough to have gotten thrown off. Well, unluckly if you wanted to look at it in such a way. I didnt think anyone else made it off, but there wasnt many people on board anyway.  
  
I`m not sure, but I`m guessing the tide must of took me there, and when I woke up, Kinfo was sitting by a fire. She told me that she had followed me from the Clan after the grounds burned, and even stowed away on the ship just to see what I was up to. When I asked how she`d gotten off the ship, she mearly looked away and replied, "Your not the only one who gets thrown."  
  
We started traveling together after that for a time, since we were both still just little children, seven at the most. I remember, people at the Clan had said that I was "Seven harvest moons," and "Seven winters." Kinfo had been not much older, a few white moons perhaps.  
  
I think, we`d been traveling for a year before Sano came into the picture. He and another little boy were traveling with a 'Captain Sagara' guy who I didnt quite understand. Kinfo, suprisingly, knew the 'root' of all langauge, which I swear was a buch of jibberish, and taught Sanosuke english in effort to get his affection. I desided to learn bits and peices of Japanese on my own because me and Kinfo had always been on bad terms with one another.  
  
We traveled with them for a while, but Kinfo dissapeared off on her own a half a year later, and I went off on my own when a full year was up. With high hopes, enough Japanese learned to get me somewhere in the world, and a finely made katana given to me by one of Sagara`s men, I was a orphans in a way as my family, if they had survived the fire, was in another country. I was finely skilled from all the training I had both receaved from the Clan and Captain Sagara`s lessions, though his had been few and fare between, and while I was a powerful advisary, I was not nearly as powerful as I tended to believe myself to be.  
  
I tried to speek Japanese as much as I could in this world oh so new to me, and I was once told that many people feared me because I held a sword at my side and, to ones eyes, looked unpredictable. Most of those people, whoever, were harmless woman and children, and any man who feared me feared me only because I had beat him in combat.  
  
As I was female and yet a child, many picked on me not only because of that, but because I knew hardly any Japanese, and thus, since most of the bullies were boys, I strove to prove any male wrong. Sometimes even going over my own limits to do so.  
  
I was recruited for the Revalution at a young age and, strange as it may seem, I dont remember how old I was. There, I met a boy named Kenshin Himura, or rather, in Japan, Himura Kenshin. I prefered Himura after Kenshin, Kenshin actuly seemed like a name.  
  
I do remember though, that when I was fifteen or sixteen, I cant remember my age then eather, Kenshin just up and dissapeared, much like Kinfo had done.  
  
I opened my eyes as I felt my sakabatou slice through something. My sakabatou....did I mention that I had sold my old english blade and my katana to get a sakabatou? I didnt like to kill, and I didnt want a chance that I could, though I knew that with any sword there was a chance, but a sakabatou had less likely a chance. I mean, look how many I had killed in the Revalution with a sakabatou.  
  
My eyes landed where the end of my sword did, ontop of a blood red tea pot. Grams` tea pot. Oh what have I done now? I sheathed my blade and set about trying to peice Grandma`s pot back together, freezing when two more hands joined mine. I looked up, startled.  
  
"Kenshin?"  
  
He looked up, and smiled at me reashuringly. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and intrest, but my gaze returned to the tea pot almost involentaraly. My sword had cut diagnally, and a steep angle it was.  
  
I remember Grams telling me once when I was a little girl that her mother had taught her her to make things like that, and that she had made it for her family when she got married. She said that over the years, she had painted it with red so many times, it turned the darkest shade she`d ever seen, and to lighten the crimson color, she used bright gold to paint a beautiful rose-flower pattern on it.  
  
Grams was dead now, she was inside when out house went up with the smoke. I guess thats why I prized is so much.  
  
Actuly, I`m not ahundred percent sure Gram was in the fire, but thats the only reason I can come up with as to why my body wouldnt follow my comands.  
  
I guess I had thought I was the last of Silver Clan before I saw Linfo when I woke up afther the storm. I had been to young to think much of it then, that perhaps my family hadnt died, I just always assumed that they had.  
  
And the red and gold and white, ah the smoked white from inside the pot, all lay in peices on the floor, having shattered when it had landed. For some reason, the only word that came to my mind was.....  
  
"Sanosuke."  
  
My eyes watered as realization came to me. I bowed my head so Kenshin couldnt see.  
  
Sano did this to me, didnt he? I know he did, and didnt even know it, what he was doing to me.  
  
"Starlight, stop!" My body jerked and his panicked voice entered my mind and shook my very soul.  
  
Sano.  
  
I found myself standing in my body, no longer in my mind, but in the real world. Sarkia`s other sword was mear cintimeters from his neck, and my hands were tight on the hilt.  
  
Kenshin`s golden eyed double stood behind him his eyes narrowed in anger but glistening in confusion. I was confused myself, as to where I was and what I had done to make the other warrior so upset, that was, of chorse, till I spotted fresh blood on the end of the blade in my hands and in a pool on the floor behind Sano.  
  
Sano himself was standing infront of the slayer protectivly, his arms streached out to his sides and his eyes a void of trust and faith, with only a slight hint of fear.  
  
Fear? Why was Sano afraid? I didnt understand. Kinshin was bleeing and Sano`s bandages appeared to be crimson, meaning he too was bleeding. I wasnt sure yet what I had done, but I was begining to get a good idea.  
  
It had been mear moments since I`d returned to this world, and I didnt relise I was fixing to leave it till I felt a sharp blow to the back of my neck. Only an instant before, I had seen the gold eyed Kinshin double faze out of existance.  
  
I vagely remember droping the sword and falling forward onto Sanosuke. I hope he dont mind.  
  
----------------------  
  
Alright people, this story is coming to a close soon, the next chapter might be the last. But dont worry, I`ve already got a plot thought up for the story which will start at the end of this one (I forget what the word I`m looking for is called)  
  
Till next chapter, everyone!  
  
--Natasha  
  
BTW, sorry about the shortness of this chappie. 


	5. Kiss me, you fool

I woke, but didnt open my eyes, there was no reason to. Right now, all I wanted to do was lay and listen to the sounds around me.  
  
I could hear a bird; outside. There was the sounds of someone washing cloths in a wash tub, some yelling in the background, and a few other things I wasnt used to. Then, there was a soft, feather light, set of footprints; in the room.  
  
"Kallan. I`m leaving." Sarkia.  
  
Why are you leaving? Tell me. "Then leave why dont you do so now?" Nani? That didnt come out right.  
  
"I just thought you might like to know."  
  
I nodded my head, the only part of my body that wasnt asleep. "Goodbye then, take care." I heard two voices, one belonging to Sarkia and one I relised belonged to Battousai.  
  
Gaa, I hate love; emotions are a weakness as well as a strength, but falling in love was most deffinently a weakness.  
  
Dumb warrior spirit in my head.  
  
Wait...in my head? Sarkia`s voice hadnt come from inside my mind, it had come to my ears!  
  
I leaned up quickly, cringed, and fell back down, opening my eyes to look down at my stomach and chest, which was more bandaged then anything I had seen before. I must have had a big fight...if only I could remember when.  
  
The door slid open, I desided to just lay there and stare dully at the cealing because I couldnt move much right now. Kinda kills time for practicing.  
  
"Your awake, I see." Megumi, the woman who was a doctor by the way she normaly dressed, or rather, how I seen her dressed at that lunch place. Strang girl if you ask me.  
  
"Yes, I am. And stay back, Doc, I lost to many loved ones to someone like you." My voice was cold and crule...did I just say that?  
  
"I`m hurt." She faked a pained expression, I could tell even without looking. When I didnt reply, she continued. "Sanosuke wanted me to check on you, he worries a lot you know."  
  
"Rooster-head could care less about me." I only cringed when her hand came in contact with my cheek. Sure, it stung a bit, but only a little.  
  
"Thats not true! He cares about you very much even if he doesnt admit it!"  
  
I snorted, but was glad she let the subject drop then and there.  
  
"He wants to see you, by the way." Ok, maybe not.  
  
She apparently noticed the slight smile gracing my lips, because she left and Sano entered.  
  
Ok, so falling in love is a weakness, and falling in love with Sano is going to turn out to be the biggest mistake I`ve ever made, but that didnt stop me from kissing him when he got close enough. I pouted when he drew back, his eyes wide in confusion.  
  
Gee, everone seemed to be confused today...or was it yeasterday? I dont know anymore, I fell like I`ve been asleep for weeks.  
  
"When did this come about?"  
  
I smiled, and tilted my head to the side. "Which one? Me falling in love or me relising I was in love?"  
  
"Both." I poked his chest in annoyance, he flinched. Boy, the guy I was in love with sure was dense. I`m not sure, but I swear he heard my thoughts because his eyes narrowed. "I hate you."  
  
"I hate you, too." I leaned back up and kissed him again, and this time, he didnt draw away.  
  
----------------------  
  
Kami, I didnt know it was going to be so short. *sigh* But, from my point of view, it turned out all right.  
  
Now listen all my faithfull readers, I hate to say it, but I wont be posting my next story for a while. I had really hoped to start it right when I got this one posted (mostly because this one`s finished, partly because the idea is still fresh) but I cant.  
  
I`m going off to a Makaian collage at the end of the week. I was supposed to leave New Years, but it seems the head Dogs of the collage want me there sooner. They also forbid students from leaving the collage untill their schooling is over, with means if I am going to put stories up, I`ll have to write them out (on paper) and have Kallan type and post them for me, which I cant do. Kallan is already doing so much for me, including acting as me while I`m gone so my parents dont know I`m missing. (if my dad wasnt human I so wouldnt have to do that, but he is, so thats the only option I have. My mom is the only one of my parents who knows what I really am)  
  
Prahaps you guys can talk Kallan into to do this for me by telling her in your reviews? Please people, I really want to get this next story started by there is no reason to work on it unless I have a way of posting it. (Makaian collages forbid Ningenkai items, sadly) Besides, she wont listen to me, but I know she`ll listen to you guys.  
  
Anyhow, I hope you liked this story, I did my best to portray Sano as best I could, but I still think there is way to much OOC stuff in there (including Starlight, because she`d wait for the man to kiss her, not the other way around) and this was my first Rurouni Kenshin fic anyway.  
  
BTW, anyone like the title of this chapter? lol  
  
--Natasha (Vampric Scarlet Warewolf Witch) 


End file.
